Have you ever heard of cheap dopamine?
Cheap dopamine refers to the quick hit of pleasure you get from low-effort, high-stimulation activities like scrolling social media, binge-watching short videos, or snacking on junk food. It’s not a clinical term but a popular shorthand for a real neurological pattern: when your brain’s reward system gets repeatedly triggered by easy stimuli, it can become less responsive to rewards that require patience or effort.
https://scienceinsights.org/what-is-cheap-dopamine-how-it-hijacks-your-brain/
(Read the article for more)
I’ve heard about it a couple of times in discussions about social media and reels and it makes sense. We, as a society, used to have to work for things, even entertainment. It wasn’t as simple as open an app of our phone and doom-scroll for hours or binge Netflix.
And here’s the thing about cheap dopamine: it’s not just wasting your time. It’s rewiring what you’re capable of tolerating. Every easy hit trains your brain to expect reward without effort. So when you sit down to actually build something — the business, the book, the body, the relationship, the walk with God — and it doesn’t pay off in 15 seconds, your brain treats it like something’s wrong and it’s not working and not worth it. But, just because it takes more than 15 seconds doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It’s just real. Real things take more time and more effort. And real things are worth it.
This is why “the harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph” sounds almost offensive to a dopamine-fried brain. We’ve been trained to expect glorious with zero struggle. Open the app, get the hit, close the app. But nothing that actually matters works that way — not faith, not marriage, not raising kids, not building something that outlasts you.
We live in a fast society, with fast results and things are getting faster and busier all the time. When it comes to entertainment or learning, we might not like the idea of struggle but it’s more tolerable than when we’re talking about life.
I love a good comeback story. I think the stories of people who overcome great adversity to triumph in the end are beautiful and inspirational!!
But, honestly, I don’t want it to be my story. The thing is, it already is. I wasn’t born in the best of circumstances. My family life was not ideal. Although I was accepted into college, I didn’t get to go until I was 36 due to finances.
My husband and I went into ministry – that is definitely a struggle (reminder to pray for and love on your pastor, his wife and his kids).
I’ve had tough relationships, health scares, issues and scares with my kids, financial problems – and I bet you have too. And so far, we’ve made it. We have overcome. We have faced the struggles (even if we kicking and screaming) and we have come out on the other side, hopefully wiser.
The struggles of life are coming. We will encounter them and we will have to face them. The difference will be how we face them. With grace and strength or or dragging our feet the whole way.
I heard a podcast today that made me stop in my tracks. The question posed was something to the effect of:
Do you see life as something out to get you or something working for you?
The Sunday School answer is I know that God is working all things together for my good. The truth is I live holding my breath, waiting for the shoe the other shoe to drop, hyperaware and hypervigilant for the next disaster. I’m exhausted, stressed and don’t like with as much joy or peace as I would like. And, I’m not honoring God living this way. I’m not trusting God, his love, his provision, his kindness, his forgiveness, if I constantly feel like I’m in trouble, being punished and am forsaken. Those are lies from the enemy that have held me back for years and years, and I declare no more. God has declared my victory and I’m going to live like it.
Today’s move: [name the struggle you’re in right now, out loud, and how you’re choosing to believe it’s building you and pushing you to something greater]
Finding Motivation in the Mess — Month of Voice, Day 5